His Mother-in-Law Isn’t Making Payments On His Old Car Like She Agreed To, So He Wants To Take It Back From Her

Matthew Gilligan

5 months ago

Shutterstock/Reddit

If you say you’re gonna something, well, stick by your word and do it!

And that’s especially true when it comes to money!

Check out what this guy is thinking about doing to his mother-in-law and see if you think he’s acting like a jerk.

AITA for taking back my car from my mother in law?

“A few months ago, I went through some tough financial times, and my car payment was simply too high. Unfortunately, the car ended up being repossessed.

My mother-in-law then offered to pay the repossession fees and take over the payments, as her own car payment was too expensive, and she was considering letting her car get repossessed anyway.

It was a difficult situation, but I wanted to avoid having a repossession on my record and being liable for the deficiency balance if the bank sold the car at auction.

He decided to go along with the idea.

At the time, I thought this was a good arrangement. Everything was fine for about three months until I received a call from the bank informing me the payment was late. I contacted her, and she had confused the due date, believing she didn’t need to make a payment for a month after the car was reinstated.

While she did make a payment, she couldn’t bring the account current. She has since repeated this pattern twice, consistently falling two months behind, which leads to me constantly receiving calls from the bank. I’ve now given her an ultimatum.

He’s in a different position now.

My financial situation has significantly improved; I’m making very good money at work, and I can now afford to either take the car back or at least get a different one. I recently tried to finance a new vehicle, but without an excessively high interest rate, I couldn’t find anything suitable in my price range.

The most pressing issue is that the other car I bought to replace it for my wife and two young children is not safe. Given it’s nearly 30 years old and small, it would not be a safe vehicle if they were to get into an accident.

He told her the deal…

I told her she needs to get the car out of my name by refinancing it in her name, or I will take it back and give her the smaller car my wife currently drives so she still has transportation.

These late payments are consistently damaging my credit score. Furthermore, her mother is incredibly unreliable, and my wife recently made the decision to completely cut ties with her after months of ongoing issues (her mom is, genuinely, a difficult person).

I just feel like this whole situation is going to explode, and I’m worried that if I do finance another car for her and she defaults again, I’ll be stuck making payments on two vehicles and facing yet another repossession on my credit report.”

Reddit users shared their thoughts.

This person offered some advice.